


Growing up.

by elisewin



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Gen, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-05
Updated: 2013-02-05
Packaged: 2017-11-28 07:55:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/672063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elisewin/pseuds/elisewin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"Louis is two when his mom announces that her dear friend has given birth to a beautiful baby boy."</i><br/>or, life seen through the eyes of little Louis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Growing up.

**Author's Note:**

> this is a thing I wrote in November and posted [on LJ](http://rejectrlty.livejournal.com/10365.html) but forgot to do it over here.   
> (I'm sorry for the really really stupid title.)

Louis is two when his mom announces that her dear friend has given birth to a beautiful baby boy.

He is really excited because his mom has told him that they will be friends, all the kids in the neighborhood are older than him and never wants to play, so now he will finally be the big one.

So when he sees Harry in his crib, Louis is really disappointed because Harry only cries, can't talk, and can't even walk. He is really weird, he has no hair and no teeth, and when his mom says he wants to eat Louis doesn't understand. He hasn't said anything, how can she know what he wants.

“Harry is boring baby,” Louis states then.

“And why's that, honey?” His mom asks, softly.

“He do nothing. Only cries. I can not play with him,” is Louis' answers, still curiously looking at that baby, now silent in his crib. His mom laughs.

“You were just like him, Lou, you know? Give him some time, and he will talk and walk just like you,” she explains.

“Tomorrow?” Louis can't wait any longer. His mom and Harry's mom share a look and start to laugh.

“No, honey, a bit longer than that.”

So Louis goes near the baby's crib, caresses him and says:

“You be fast. I need friend.”

 

They go visit the Styles quite often after that day. Sometimes Louis goes to play with Harry's big sister, Gemma, but she likes dolls and Barbies and he doesn't. And time passes and Harry only cries and cries and eat and sleep. Mostly cries. But now at least he has got some hair. Maybe he will become a real kid just as his mom has promised.

“Gemma has dolls and Harry is still can not talk. I want friend!” Louis complains one day as they get back home.

“You will, don't worry, honey,” his mom tells him, 'cause Summer is almost over and he will finally start to go to kindergarten.

 

Louis is really surprised to meet kids that can talk, walk and that are as old as him. His favorite kid there is Liam, and when they talk for the first time Louis explains him that he has a friend whose name is Harry but he can't talk and walk so he likes Liam better, and when Halloween comes he dresses up as Batman, he likes him even more, because he is Superman and they make a good pair of superheroes.

 

There is a small party for Louis' third birthday and of course the Styles are invited. Everyone tells Louis _'Happy birthday'_ , except for Harry, who says _'gah!'_ instead. At least now he's starting to move on his own a bit. Louis tries to encourage him, “you can walk!”, but Harry goes around just like a cat or a dog. Louis thinks he might be not entirely a person but maybe a bit like a cat, even though he doesn't have a fur. Harry crawls around the house, smiling at everyone and everything.

“You are right, Louis, Harry is weird,” Liam comments, “he walks like animals.”

“I think maybe he is a bit a cat,” Louis explains, and Liam nods like the thing he just said is unarguably true. “Harry?” he catches his attention, and Harry turns to him, smiling.

“Gah!” he says again.

“Mom says he talk well one day, but now he thinks everything is gah.”

“Gah!” Harry echoes, now tired from all the crawling around.

 

After a while, Harry starts to call everything ma-ma. Louis can't understand, when they go over their place why would he call him mama, but then he notices that even his toys are mama and his mom too is his mama.

“No, Harry, she is my mom,” Louis explains, pointing to his mom, “She is your mama, not everyone, I am Louis,”

“dah!dah!” Harry says.

“Louis, you know that Harry can walk a bit now?” His mom says, really excited. Louis' eyes go wide.

“Really? Not like a cat?” She laughs.

“No, dear, he can walk a bit on two feet,just like you,” she takes his kid out of his lap and takes him by his hands,and encourages him “Show your friend how good you are!” And he can really stand up for three, four steps. Louis claps his hands.

 

The next day at kindergarten he tells Liam that maybe Harry is a person, because he can walk a bit now.

“No cat?” Liam asks, while they're playing with sand in the garden.

“No, cat can not walk like he,” Louis explains.

“Can he talk like we?”

“No. He thinks everyone is mom, not gah now, but mom,” he answers, disappointed. “I say, I am Louis, but he says another time, mom!” Louis says, almost angry, as he shapes a castle in the sand. “I am boy, can not be mom. I can be dad. But not Harry's.”

“Yes, he has his dad,you can not be” Liam says nodding.

“But I do not want babies, if they are like Harry,” Louis decides.

 

Harry's first birthday is a snowy day and Louis' mom drives slowly to their friends' house.

“Do Harry think that snow is mama too?” Louis asks, looking outside, his nose pressed to the window.

“Yes, honey, I don't think he can say the word snow already.”

“So one day he can,” Louis says, dubious.

“Of course, one day, as I told you it takes some time.”

“Okay. But it is a long time now.” And then he concentrates again on the snowflakes falling. Maybe one day Harry can even make a snowman with him.

 

Snow melts, spring comes right after and Louis spends most of his Saturdays playing with the Styles 'cause his parents have to work often on weekends too. Louis takes Harry by the hand and help him walk around the garden.

“You still do not walk good, but you can not move when little, so now you are more good.”

“Yah!Ma-ma!” Harry says.

“No mama, Harry, _Louis_!” Louis explains again, saying his name the slower he can. He is an impatient kid, but with Harry he's learning not to be all the time, at least. “She, no mama, too, she Gemma,” he says, pointing to Gemma, who's playing with a friend on the swings.

“Gee!” Harry makes a big effort in pronouncing the new syllable. “Gee!Ma-ma!Dah-dah!”

“Mom say I am patient with you. But it is not easy. You don't listen me,” Louis says, shaking his head. “I am _Louis_.”

“Maaaaah!” Harry shouts. “Daaaaah!”

 

It is only some time later that Harry greets him with a “Luh!” instead of a “Ma-ma!Dah-dah!”

“You say Luh!” Louis says enthusiastically.

“Luh!” Harry echoes. Louis gives him a kiss on the cheek then, and hugs him.

“You are friend now, but Liam is more nice because he can say more things,” he decides. Their moms laugh.

“Your boy is the funniest,” Harry's mom says.

“You say this because you don't have to chase after him the whole day!”

“Mom you don't like me?” Louis whines, hugging his mom's leg.

“Of course I do like you, honey,” she says, picking him up and kissing him on the forehead “I actually love you very much.” Louis then buries his head in his mom's neck.

“Luh!” Harry says again, pointing at him and Louis smiles a bit.

 

“I have news,” Louis tells Liam the next morning. “Harry knows me now.”

“He knows you a long time, Louis,” Liam says, confused.

“No, no, no he _really_ knows me. He says my name, but not good like you.”

“Oh. Good. He can come here and play with us now?”

“No, I ask mom and say he is little and he can not.”

“He is always too little!” Liam complains.

 

Summer comes and after kindergarten's closure Louis spends most of the time with his grandparents on the other side of town, so he doesn't see either Liam or Harry for a while. Probably they have forgotten him, especially Harry, because his mom has told him that little kids have a short memory. But maybe Liam has good memory just like him so he will remember.

His grandparents bring him to the park near his house during the day and he meets two kids who are always on the swings and are called Niall and Zayn. Niall says he comes from a place that is far and is called Ireland, but Louis has never heard of it so it is probably not true, and Zayn has the weirdest name he has ever heard. Maybe he comes from another place too. But he doesn't say.

“We never see you here, are you new?” Zayn asks, swinging up and down.

“No, I live far. I have different friends, they are Liam and Harry. But Harry is little and don't speak much and maybe he don't remember me,” he explains.

“And why you are here now?” Niall asks then.

“I am with my grandpa and grandma. And you?”

“We live here,” Zayn answers, pointing to a building not too far from the park. “My mom makes cake today. You can eat it with us.”

 

After an evening at Zayn's, and the delicious cake his mom has baked, Louis decides he likes them. He likes Niall because he eats a lot of cake and he is funny because his mouth is all dirty with chocolate, and he likes Zayn because he has Power Rangers toys. Liam only has Batman.

 

He sees Harry again at the end of August, and with his great surprise he remembers him, Harry almost runs as soon as he sees Louis to hug him. He could barely walk earlier, and now he almost runs. Louis is almost sad he missed so many progress.

“Luh!” he shouts.

“Hi Harry. I think you don't remember me but I am happy because you do.”

“He really likes you, Louis, he even asked for you a few times, you know?” Harry's mom tell him.

“Oh. Good. But now school starts again and Harry come with me and Liam?”

“I'm sorry, sweetie,” Harry's mom caresses him as he says it, “but he will stay some more time with me at home, he's not even two years old!”

“But he walk and talk so he is good for school,” Louis decides.

“Luh! 'kul!” Harry says. His mom laughs.

“Ehy, don't you want to stay home with your mom?” His mom asks, pouting.

“'kul!” Harry protests.

“I can't believe this!”

“He go to school with me. I want to ask Niall and Zayn too.”

“Who are Niall and Zayn, dear?” Harry's mom asks Louis.

“New friends. But they live far where my grandpa live, so maybe they can't.”

“Oh, they probably go to a different Kindergarten, dear. But you can always ask them to come over and play with you and Harry, right?” Louis nods.

 

They all come over at his place for his birthday, a few months later. Louis proudly shows four fingers when people ask him how old he is. The five boys run around the house (well, four of them, mostly, Harry can't be as fast as the others), their moms trying to make them stay calm for a while but fail miserably.

 

Louis thinks this birthday is so much better than the previous one. He likes that now he can use four fingers to show how old he is, first of all. And maybe he'll like next year better because he will use all his fingers in one hand. And he has new friends this time, Niall and Zayn, even though they say that Harry is too little to play with them, and Louis explains that they have to be patient because he is growing up. That he knows him since he was really little and had no hair and now Harry has a lot of hair, he has beautiful curly hair now. That he helped him walk at the beginning and he is now very good. Zayn and Niall still don't understand why he likes so much to play with such a baby.

“He is my first friend,” Louis explains. He doesn't want to leave Harry behind because Harry didn't forget him that summer when they haven't seen each other for a long time.

“Yah, Luh is friend,” Harry says, confused a bit by the whole conversation, catching up just that last bit.

 

Louis thinks this birthday is so much better than the previous one. Because Harry is his friend just like he asked him that first day they met, and finally he learned to say the word _friend_ by himself. He says it to Louis the first time, just like his name was the first one he learned outside his family's names.

And Louis doesn't know, but there will plenty of other first times they will share together in the years to come. Lots of other birthdays he will enjoy.

But in this very moment, Louis is sure this is the best birthday of his life.


End file.
